In 2014, on February 7th, one of my good friends and I went to see The Lego Movie. Now, about five years later, we continued the tradition and saw the second installment of the series. 

In the first movie, we met the main character Emmet, a devoted citizen of Bricksburg who is always welcoming to his neighbors and has a very upbeat individual. He is thrown into a rebellion with wild style against Lord Business, and he plays a key role in defeating his power. They eventually defeat him, and everyone becomes friends in the end, which is a very heart touching scene.

Immediately, at the start of the second movie, we pick up where we left off; everyone’s sitting in peace when all of a sudden, there’s an alien invasion from planet Duplio. These aliens destroy the whole city and turn it into an apocalyptic wasteland. But one day, an alien called General Mayhem visits. She invaded because she is looking for the greatest warriors from the planet. They all object because they have a fiery hate for their race, so she kidnaps them all accept Emmet.

She believes that Emmet isn’t tough enough to actually be a warrior as he’s very kind and accepting making him look weak. Mayhem flys back up to space with the rest of his friends including one of his favorite friends Wild Style, or Lucy as she now calls herself. He is very heartbroken over this and makes the journey to space.

As he’s flying into space he gets into a little bit of trouble, he’s hit with a bunch of meteors. He’s quickly saved by a character named Rex. Rex is seemingly super cool and calm, and he wants to help Emmet get his friends back from the evil alien hierarchy. Rex also plays a very comedic relief like role.

The Lego Movie series has a unique way of appealing to both an older and a younger audience. There are always underlying adult jokes and in-your-face kid jokes. Both are appealing to me; I understand darker humor and the silliness of children because I’m very immature.

The animation is always amazing to gaze upon. Whenever I get bored during the movie, which is barely ever, I notice how I can see subtle scratches on the hair and fingerprints on the bricks. It still shocks and amazes me how they are able to make these detailed scenes.

Of course, I feel the story in the first movie was very attentive to the plot. You can tell someone took a lot of time to make the film story, yet the story in the second does what a sequel should but feels less from the heart and more for the money.

The sequel expands the universe and answers more questions, but it feels less like the original’s happy, giddy nature. It falls flat on what it built up.

As much as I love The Lego Movie and its characters, I believe they could have done a better job ending the series. 

At least, I hope this is the end of a great series.